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6/17/2009

What happens when Polish-American girls get into making Japanese dolls?

Arguably, you've probably never wondered what would happen when a half-Polish gal starts designing amigurumi. But, as an expert on the topic, I feel a duty to tell you.

I have tried to keep to the established "rules" for creating amigurumi dolls, but like many creative folk, I find that inspiration often comes from life experiences. In this case, my inspiration comes from the small vocabulary of Polish words passed down by my mother.

My mom grew up speaking only Polish until grade school and she passed some Polish words on to me and my brother while we were growing up. One of those words was "KOCIĘ." To me, the word always sounded like cwoo-tee (with a short "oo" sound like in book) -- although I am by no means an expert in Polish language or pronunciation.

When my brother and I were sent to do our chores, one of our tasks was cleaning the KOCIĘ from the corners and under the furniture. It wasn't until some years later that I learned that KOCIĘ means "kitten" in English.

When I started working on my first KOCIĘ (I'm calling them "dust kittens" for simplicity), I really had no idea what I was going to call it. "Cat ball" and "cat bomb" were a few of the names that ran through my head. It wasn't until I began stitching together my third dust kitten that inspiration struck. I was sitting in my favorite chair in the afternoon sunshine and I glanced up at the ceiling to see one the of biggest, ugliest gobs of dust ever. I made a mental note that as soon as I finished my latest project, I really needed to get the duster and do something about that KOCIĘ. And then I looked at what I had in my hands and it all fell into place.

I invite you to visit my Etsy shop and check out my first dust kitten listing, and I can guarantee that there will be more (as soon as I can get decent photos together).

If you have a couple minutes, I also hope that you'll help me out by voting on one of the new tag lines I'm trying to choose from. For more on this, see the previous post.

Amigurumi 101

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What is amigurumi?

Amigurumi(編み包み) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically cute animals (such as bears, rabbits, cats, dogs, etc.), but can include inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features. Amigurumi can be either knitted or crocheted. In recent years crocheted amigurumi are more popular and more commonly seen.